Do you remember watching the animated version of this move? Remember the “oh how nice” feeling that you got from it? Well the made that movie with real people and very few changes.

This movie was like a weekend for my brain. It didn’t have the excitement and brilliance of a vacation for my brain movie but it definitely was enjoyable.

Here’s what I didn’t like about this movie.

– The characters were pretty flat. While there was some dimension to Charming and Cinderella all the characters are stereotypes and are built to play a role in the plot without much if any character development in mind.

– The little bit of humor is not my style.

– I know that her dress was always intended to be more blue than silver and that the depth of the hue got lost in the animated version due to the technology at that time but I think they went too blue for this one. I have always thought of Cinderella in neutrals and I liked that the silver blue was keeping that pale theme, partly because of the association with innocence. The blue of her dress in this movie was far too strong. It overpowered her and took away from her elegance.

Here’s what I liked.

– There is a reason for Cinderella being so kind and nice. It might be a reason that I scoff at but at least she is kind and nice for a real reason. If a disaster happened and I ended up with a child (nothing against people with children, I just should never have one) and that child wanted to emulate Cinderella from the animated movie I would try to intervene but if that child wanted to emulate Cinderella from this movie I would just worry that the world would hurt it.

– There is also emphasis on Cinderella having courage. That’s a great addition to her character description.

– While Charming does fall in love pretty much at first sight the couple at least have a few interactions before agreeing to spend the rest of their life married. They meet in the woods on horseback after Cinderella has displayed a free spirit, kind heart, and beautiful face. They get to dance at the ball. Most importantly, they get to talk alone. I might have issues with the whole concept of love, love at first sight, true love, and this love story in particular. I might think that they could have done something more drastic because it still isn’t the best example for little girls. But I approve of the slight changes.

– The movie isn’t dimly lit. Thank you movie people for not setting mood with overall lighting but rather with shadows made by real things and light that looks like it is from a natural source.

– Charming’s friend, the guy who looks like he might be the head of the guard or a military style noble or whatever was a plus. Sure the character wasn’t really needed and he wasn’t anything unique but at least it flushed out Charming’s life a little bit.

– The fairy godmother was a nice update.

Other comments.

– The acting wasn’t amazing and it wasn’t bad. It was what it needed to be to capture the feeling of the original movie.

Verdict: Don’t expect this to flip the tale or make it an awesome statement for women like Mirror Mirror or Maleficent. It was pretty but I don’t think I will watch it again. Not because it isn’t worth watching again but because it is pretty much a live version of the animated film and I haven’t felt compelled to watch that multiple times either. This movie is good for kids. It’s good for grandparents. As long as you are the type of person that wouldn’t mind a live version of the animated film then you should be fine with this movie.